Alarm clock



Jan. 4,1938. .2. J. DRABIN 33,104,611

ALARM CLOCK Filed Sept. 14, 1956 JOHN J DRAB/N FNVENTOR BY 9 mm,

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

My invention relates to alarm clocks and has particular reference to'alarm clocks adapted to produce a sounding alarm at a predetermined time of day.

Ordinary alarm clocks are usually provided with two, separate and independent springs, one for operating the clock mechanism, andthe other for the alarm mechanism. The two springs must be separately wound, and the alarm spring must be wound every day, as it completely unwinds itself if the alarm is permitted to ring for an appreciable length of time, even if the clock mechanism has an eight daymechanism. It is possible however to use a single spring for the alarm and clock mechanisms. For this purpose I use one end of the spring forconnecting it to the clock mechanism, the other end being connected with the alarm mechanism, the spring being wound as usually, there being a ratchet mechanism provided in connection with the alarm or clock mechanism. With this object in view, I am enabled to greatly simplify the construction of my alarm clock, rendering it lighter and cheaper to manufacture, simplifying its winding, and rendering possible to use an eight day mechanism for the clock and alarm portions.

' Another object of my invention is to provide meansfor automatically limiting the time of the ringing of the alarm to a predetermined period, such as -011 seconds, after which the alarm stops; but it is repeated again the next day at the same time and for the same length of time.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for manually varying the length of time for which the alarm mechanism is set. Thus with my mechanism it is possible to set the alarm for ringing every morning during, for instance, two, four or eight seconds, and the alarm will automatically operate during'this period of time every morning until the mechanism is adjusted for another period.

Another object of my invention is to provide a manually operable means for shutting off the alarm if it is not needed, when, for instance, the user becomes awakened Without the alarm and does not wish the alarm to ring. In this connection I also provide means to render the shutting oiT attachment inoperative after a certain time, so that the alarm will again ring the next morning without any further manual adjustments or manipulations. Another object of my invention is to provide means for progressively increasing the intensity of the sound, thereby avoiding the first shock when the alarm goes off, and rendering the awakening more quiet and gradual,

My invention is more fully described in the accompanying specification and drawing in; whichi Fig. 1 is a'fractional View in elevation of my alarm clock with the rear plate removed. 5 w

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken of Fig- 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing thealarm releasing mechanism when it is ready to be released.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the alarm releasing mechanism at a moment when it is released.

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the alarm releasing mechanism at a moment when the alarm is again locked.

Fig. '7 is a perspective View of the alarm releasing and locking mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of a 24-hour dial for the alarm mechanism.; 1 1' Fig. 9 is a detail view of a modified device for controlling the time of ringing and varying the intensity of sound.

Fig. 10 is a detail view of a device for manually on the line 2- -2 shutting off the alarm.

My alarm clock consists of a cylindrical (or 2 of any other suitable shape) housing I with a front plate 2 and a rear plate 3. A second rear plate 4 is supported on the housing at a short distance from the plate 3. 0

A spring shaft 1 is journaled by one end in the plate 2, the other end being journaled in the hollow end of an extension shaft 8 journaled in the plates 3 and 4. The extension shaft 8 has a thumb head 9 for turning it by hand; A spiral clock spring I0 is attached by its inner end to the shaft 1, the other end of the spring being attached to the inside Wall of a spring casing H rigidly mounted on the extension shaft 8. The shaft 8 also carries loosely an alarm gear I2 with a ratchet wheel l3. The latter is engaged by a pawl l4 pivotally supported on the casing H and pressed against the wheel l3 by a spring E5. The shaft 1 has a clock gear I6 in mesh with a pinion I! on a shaft l8. The shaft l8 has a pinion 20 in mesh with a gear 2| on a shaft 22 having a pinion 23 in mesh with a gear 24 forming a part of a time train.

The pinion 20 is also in mesh with a gear 42 on a cam sleeve 81. The sleeve has a camshaped edge engaging a pin 88 on the end of a shaft 86. The other end of the shaft 86 has a thumbhead 46 with a pointer 41. A flat spring 84 is attached to the frame plate 2 at one end 84' and has a hole 85 in the middle fitting over the shaft 86. The spring tends to press the gear 42 and the cam 61 against the pin 88. The free end of the spring is connected to one end of a rod 83, the other end of which is pivotally connected at 83 to one end of a crank lever 86. The latter is pivoted at 8| in a bracket 82. The other end of the lever has a slot 80 fitting over the end 83" of a lever I9 mounted on a shaft 49 which is rotatively supported in the plates 2 and 4. The other end of the lever I9 has a hook 50 pressed upwardly by the end of a spring 5|. The other end of the spring 5| is pivoted at 52 on a post 53 supported on the plate 3. A nut 54 is attached to the spring 5| and is engaged by a screw, 55 with a thumbhead 56 and a pointer 51.

The end portion of the spring 5| has a hook 59 engaging one of the pins 60, 6|, 62 or 63 on a gear 64. The latter is mounted on a shaft 65 having a pinion 66 in mesh with the gear I2. The pins are of diiferent height or length, pin 60 being the longest, pin 62 somewhat shorter, and pins 6| and 63 being the shortest and of equal length. The spring 5| may be adjusted by the screw 55 to engage the longest pin only, or the two longest, or all of the pins. The hook 50 is of suflicient width so that it is engaged by the end of the spring 5| in all its operative posi tions, while the lever 19 itself is placed so as to be free from engagement from all the pins.

The gear 64 is in mesh with a pinion 6! on a shaft 66 having also a toothed wheel 69. The teeth of the wheel 69 alternately engage teeth I0 and II of a lever 12 mounted on a shaft I3 and having a hammer 14 on the end. The hammer strikes a sounding plate 15 supported at one end on a post I6. It is understood, of course, that any ordinary bell or gong may be used instead of the plate I5 in connection with the hammer.

The operation of my clock is as follows.

As may be seen from the drawing, I employ a single spring I 0 for operating both the clock and the alarm mechanisms. The inner end of the spring turns the shaft I with the gear I6, which turns the shaft l8, and through the train of gears 20, 2|, 23 and 24 turns the hour-hand on the shaft I8. The speed of rotation is controlled by the escapement mechanism connected with the gear H. The cam sleeve 81 is rotated by the gear 42 from the pinion 20. The gear 42 is twice as large as the gear 20 so that it makes one revolution in 24 hours.

With the arrangement shown the clock gear I6 rotates in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1. The alarm gear I2 is free on the shaft 8 but is connected with the ratchet wheel I3. The outer end of the spring I6 tends to rotate the casing in the clockwise direction, causing the pawl I4 attached thereto to engage the ratchet wheel I3 and cause rotation of gear l2. This gear l2 meshes with gear 66 fixed on shaft 65 to which is also fixed gear 64. The gear 64 is, therefore, caused to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as aresult of the clockwise rotation of casing The alarm gears are ordinarily prevented from rotation by the hook 59 of the spring 5| engaging one of the pins 60, 6|, 62 or 63, the spring being tensioned so as to press against the pin and against the hook 50 of the lever IS. The spring can be wound, however, by turning the knob 9 in the counterclockwise direction (when viewing Fig. 1), when the pawl I4 will slide over the tapering sides of the ratchet teeth of the wheel |3.

The gear 64 turns the toothed wheel 68 which alternately engages the teeth III and II of the lever I2 thereby vibrating the hammer I4 and causing it to strike the sounding plate I5. The inertia of the hammer I4 limits the speed of rotation of the wheel 66. I prefer to proportion the moving parts so that the intermediate gear 64 makes, when free, one revolution in a certain period of time which may be considered as the longest desired length of time of ringing the alarm, for instance, ten seconds.

The time of the alarm is set by turning the knob or thumbhead 46 so that the pointer 41 'indicates the time on a corresponding dial II.

The dial is divided into 24 parts corresponding to the hours, one half, painted white, having 12 hours of day, and the other half, painted black, having 12 hours of night.

The cam gradually moves the spring 64 and the rod 83 turning the levers 86 and I9 until the hooked end 50 pushes the hook 59 off the pin 60 as shown in Fig. 4, the pin then resting against the hook 56. With the further rotation of the cam the levers move back until position shown in Fig. 5 is reached. The hook 50 in this position slides away from the pin 60, releasing the latter and permitting the gear 64 to turn, the pins passing under the lever I5. The gear 64 will make one complete revolution, if the spring 5| is set by the thumbhead 56 to the longest time of ringing, for instance, ten seconds, or one complete revolution of the gear 64. In this case the spring 5| is moved out so that it can engage only the longest pin 60 permitting all the shorter pins to pass under it. By turning the thumbhead 56 to the next position, the spring 5| will be made to engage the longest and the next to the longest pins 66 and 62, thereby stopping the gear 64 after it has made one half revolution. The alarm will then ring for 5 seconds. With the next position of the thumbhead 56 the spring will engage the shortest pins 6| and 63, i. e. all of them, and the alarm will ring 2% seconds, or during one quarter of a turn of the gear 64. By turning the thumbhead 56 still farther, the spring is jammed against the gear 64, teeth I6 on the spring entering the gear teeth and stopping the gear 64. The alarm is then shut off and will not ring. By turning the thumbhead 56 in the opposite direction, the spring 5| may be made to clear all the pins, in which case the alarm will ring until stopped or until the spring ||l becomes completely unwound.

The gear 42, while turning, is gradually pushed down against the spring 64 thereby moving the lever I6 into position corresponding to Fig. 4, until a sharp drop in the cam is reached, when the gear 42 will rise under action of the spring 84. The lever I9 will be then moved into position corresponding to Fig. 5.

A modification is shown in Fig. 9. Here the gear 64' has only one pin 66 but is provided with an adjustable cam 65 engaging one end of a lever 90 pivoted at SI and having at the other end a tapering damper 82 sliding over the sounding plate I5. A spring 93 presses the lever against the cam 86. The gear 64 in this case always makes one complete revolution, but the ringing is dampened or even stopped by the damper 92 moved over the hammer I4 by the cam 89 at the expiration of a few seconds according to the setting of the cam. The damper 92 is made tapering in its thickness and width so as to gradually reduce the intensity of ringing.

An additional device for stopping the alarm or shutting it off so that it will not sound is shown in. Fig. 10. A lever 94 pivoted at 95 has a tooth 96 and a handle 91 exposed to the outside so that it can be manually moved for lock ing the wheel 69 by the tooth 96. A spring 99 tends to move the lever away from the wheel 69. A latch 99 under action of a spring Hi holds the other end of the lever 94 when the tooth 96 is brought into engagement with the wheel. The latch is moved away from the lever 94 by a pin [0| on the cam 81 so that the lever 94 springs back into its inoperative position away from the wheel 69, and the alarm mechanism becomes ready to function next time at the time for which it is set.

My alarm clock differs only by the addition of a few simple and inexpensive details of mechanism, while simplifying the construction by eliminating the special alarm spring. The manufacturing cost of my alarm clock is therefore no higher than the cost of an ordinary alarm clock. It can be set for continuous ringing or can be shut ofi entirely. Moreover, it has the following advantageous features: it can ring its alarm by the gradually increasing sound; length of time during which the alarm is ringing can be varied within sufiiciently wide limits to accomplish its purpose without undue annoyance; it is not necessary to shut off the alarm in the morning and to reset it again for the following morning in the evening; it need not be placed within reach of a sleeping person to shut it off when its purpose is accomplished; it can be therefore placed anywhere in a room or hung on a wall; length of time of the alarm can be selected and set to be automatically repeated every morning; my alarm clock requires only its periodic winding, whether it be once a day or once in eight days.

The described modifications may be used together or separately. Thus, for instance, a standard alarm clock may have an adjustable arrangement for ringing during 2, 4 or 8 seconds; while de luxe models may also have a dampening attachment shown in Fig. 9, or attachment shown in Fig. 10.

It is evident that my system of using an alarm of a predetermined length of operation may be applied to ordinary clocks with two springs or even to electric clocks.

My mechanism may be conveniently applied to 8-day clocks, as the alarm does not need to be touched except when the spring is rewound. For this reason my alarm clock may be placed on a wall, out of reach of a sleeping person.

I claim as my invention:

1. An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operatively connected with the spring, an alarm mechanism operatively connected with the spring and comprising a train of gears, a plurality of projections of different height on one of said gears, a locking member adapted to releasably engage one of the projections thereby preventing the gears from rotation, means operated by the clock mechanism to move the locking member away from the projection thereby releasing the alarm mechanism, means to manually adjust the releasing means for operation at a predetermined time of day, the look-- ing member being adapted upon release to engage the next engageable projection, and means to manually adjust the relative positions of the looking member and wheel with projections for engaging by the locking member projections of different height thereby varying the angular distance of movement of the wheel with projections between its successive engagements bythe looking member.

2. An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operatively connected with the spring, an alarm mechanism operatively connected with the spring and having a train of gears, one of said gears having a plurality of projections, a locking spring adapted to engage one of the projections thereby preventing the gears from rotation, a releasing member engaging the locking spring and adapted to be moved by the clock mechanism for releasing the gear with the projections from the locking spring, the releasing member prior to the releasing of the gear being adapted to transfer the projection on the gear from engagement with the locking spring to engagement with the releasing member itself, the locking spring after release being adapted to engage the next engageable projection thereby limiting the rotation of the wheel with the projections to the angular distance between the projections.

3. An alarm clock comprising a clock mechanism, means to operate the clock mechanism, an alarm mechanism. comprising a train of gears, means to operate the alarm mechanism, a plurality of pins of different height extending from an intermediate gear in the alarm mechanism, a resilient locking member for engaging the pins and preventing the rotation of the alarm gears,

. a movable member adapted to move the locking member for releasing the pins therefrom, a cam rotated by the clock mechanism and operatively connected with the movable member, means to manually adjust the position of the cam for releasing the alarm gears through the movable member at a predetermined time of day, the resilient member being adapted to reengage the next pin thereby limiting the time of operation of the alarm mechanism, and means to manually move the resilient member for engaging pins of different height thereby varying the time between the successive engagement of the pins by the locking member.

4. An alarm clock comprising a clock mechanism, means to operate the clock mechanism, an alarm mechanism, means to operate the alarm mechanism, the alarm mechanism comprising a hammer and a sounding member adapted to be actuated by the hammer, a dampening member interposed between the hammer and the sounding member and being of different eifectiveness along its length, and means operated by the clock mechanism for gradually withdrawing the dampening member thereby increasing the intensity of sound produced by the hammer with the sounding device.

5. An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operated by the spring, an alarm mechanism operated by the spring and comprising a train of gears, a locking device adapted to releasably engage an intermediate gear in said train thereby preventing the rotation of the gears, means to release the locking device by the clock mechanism, means to manually adjust the releasing means to become operative at a predetermined time of day, and means to limit the rotation of said intermediate gear to not more than one revolution.

6. An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operated by the spring, an alarm mechanism operated by the spring and comprising a train of gears, a locking device adapted to releasably engage an intermediate gear in said train thereby preventing the rotation :of the gears, means to :release the locking device by the clock mechanism, means to manually adjust the releasing means to become operative ata predetermined time of day, andmeans to selectively limit the rotation of the intermediate gear to ,a predetermined fraction of one revolution.

7. An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operatively connected with the spring, an alarm mechanism operatively connected with the spring and comprising a train of gears, projections on an intermediate gear in said train, a locking device adapted to releasably engage one of the projections thereby preventing the alarm gears Irom rotation, means to release the alarm gears at a predetermined time of day by the clock mechanism, means to-manually adjust the time of release, means to limit the rotation of the gear with projections to not more than one revolution, and means to render the projections selectively engageable by the locking devicethereby controlling the lengthof time of rotation of the alarm gears.

8. ;An alarm clock comprising a spring, a clock mechanism operatively connected with the spring, an alarm mechanism operatively connected with the spring and comprising a train of gears,.a locking device adapted to releasably engage an intermediate gear in said train thereby preventing the rotation of the gears, means to release the locking device by the clock mechanism at a predetermined time of day, means to render the locking device operative upon completion by the intermediate gear of a predetermined i'raction of one revolution, and means operated by the clock mechanism to release the locking device in order that the alarm may operate at the next time for which it is set.

9. An alarm clock comprising a clock mechanism and an alarm mechanism, the alarm mechanism comprising a plurality of gears, a locking device adapted to releasably engage an intermediate gear in the alarm mechanism, means to release the locking device at a predetermined time of the day, means to render the locking device operative upon completion by the intermediate gear of a predetermined fraction of one revolution, while the clock operated releasing device is still operative, and means operated by the clock mechanism to restore the locking device to its releasable condition.

JOHN J. DRABIN. 

